It was another winter wonderland start to the season for LAFC as they opened up their 2025 campaign with a road trip taking on Colorado Rapids in the first leg, of the first round, of Concacaf Champions Cup. Okay, perhaps it wasn’t the blizzard the team faced last season, but we did see the orange ball, we saw snow trickling from the sky and we saw Olivier Giroud’s beard collect icicles as the match progressed. Unfortunately, that was all he was able to collect as the team fell 2-1 to open the season.
Final from Colorado.#COLvLAFC | @TheChampions pic.twitter.com/ostD83u56P
— LAFC (@LAFC) February 19, 2025
The match started as anyone would have expected. LAFC were sluggish with the bitter cold immediately playing a role as temps stayed in the single digits. Neither side were too keen on taking the game to the other early on. The first half finished scoreless and with minimal attempts at goal. The Rapids finished the first half with just a single shot, while LAFC had four, with just two finding the target. As we saw a lot of last season, the black & gold weren’t too worried about keeping possession. They weren’t giving the ball away thankfully, but they were good with letting Colorado keep the ball while doing close to nothing with it. In truth, it seemed as though both sides were fine with just seeing out a scoreless draw and moving on to the next leg in Los Angeles, then, the second half happened.
Just three minutes into the second half we got a glimpse of the true chaotic nature that is Concacaf. As he was making his way through the defense, Rapids attacker Kevin Cabral was brought down and after some initial confusion and a yellow for simulation on the attacker, VAR rescinded the yellow card and awarded the home side with the penalty. Mihailovic stepped up to the spot and struck true as he gave Colorado the early second half lead.
LAFC were able to wake up a bit in attack and muster a few more opportunities at goal as they hunted for the equalizer. They had 10 shots in the second half, with six finding their mark, but unfortunately for most of the half, none were finding their way into the back of the net. We even saw the team shift to possession mode, keeping the ball for 77% in the second half. The goal of the night came in the 80th minute when Rapids won a free kick near the top of the box. Mihailovic stepped up to this one as well, and sent in a banger that found its way upper 90, past the outstretched hands of LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris, and into the net to double the lead.
An absolute stunner by Mihailovic to extend the lead! ⚽💥#ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/2Yf0gal9p0
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 19, 2025
The second goal woke up LAFC, as just five minutes later the team put together a slick corner kick play of their own. A short kick, followed by a couple really nice passes to set up the ball into the box, where defender Aaron Long was able to get his head on it and send it over the line to cut the deficit in half as time dwindled down in the match. It was also an away goal, which is always vital to have in your front pocket going into the home match for leg two.
Aaron Long punches a header in and pulls one back for LAFC! 🔥#ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/I2cCIQEcnW
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 19, 2025
“We come out of this with the loss, we do have the away goal, just a win at home and take care of business and we should be fine” said LAFC defender Aaron Long during his post-match interview after the final whistle. While you never want to get into the habit of accepting losses, this one wasn’t as bad as it felt, and definitely not as bad as it could have been. All things considered, to be going back to Los Angeles, down just a goal, with the away goal in hand, really isn’t a mountain to climb so much as it is an early obstacle to overcome. An early test for the club that has their sights set on all the silverware this season. They will have their chance to shake off the loss this weekend, when they open up their 2025 MLS regular season with a home match against Minnesota United.
Thoughts on the first leg of the Champions Cup? Leave a comment below!